Sam browne belt



Aug. 14, 1951 H. c. COOKMAN SAM BROWNE BELT I Filed July 19, 1946 JNVENTOR. Helen C,

Coo/(man A TTOR/VEYJ' able longitudinal pull.

Patented Aug. 14, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

S M BB E BELI- Helen G. Gookman, New York, Y. Application July 19, 1946, Serial No. 684,758

1 This in e ti re te to am B own e ts.-

An object of the invention is to provide an improved safety Sam Browne belt which is so organized that the person wearing it is not made especially vulnerable to attack by an assailant, through the latter being able to grip and pull the belt.

Heretofore, a serious objection to the use of Sam Browne belts by personnel of police forces and the like has been the possibility of an assailant obtaining an advantage over the wearer of the belt bygrasping and pulling the shoulder strap portion thereof, and by this action throwing or maneuvering the said wearer into a vulnerable position. Where no belt having a supporting shoulder strap is worn about the exterior of a person, the possibility of quickly obtaining a firm grasp of the body of the person is quite remote, since it is extremely diflicult to securely grip articles or apparel, or to grasp a tightiltting waist belt.

Several proposals have been made in the past to overcome this objection to Sam Browne belts, but these proposals have not been generally successful. One'proposal involved the use of fastening means which became separated when the 5 Claims. (01; eat-=22) I Sam Browne belt was subjected to any consider- It was found diflicult, however,-to properly adjust the fastening means so that these would not inadvertently be released in response to strains to which the belt was subjected .during normal activity of the wearer. The fastening means employed was so constituted that it would be released in response to pulls on the belt in the same direction as the load which the belt is supposed to carry or sustain. Thus, if the pull on the belt during normal use were to reach a certain critical value, the fastening means would inadvertently be released.

The difiloulties and disadvantages of the prior devices as listed above are overcome by the present invention. In accordance with the invention, a Sam Browne belt is provided whichhas separable fasteners so constituted that the pulls on the belt occasioned by loading or met with in normal use cannot cause separation of the rasteners, whereas pulls on the belt in a direction broadside to it, such as would occur if an assailant grasped the belt, will cause the fasteners to be readily released. the specific embodiments of the invention illustrated herein the fastening means comprise snapfasteners of the type commercially known as Carr fasteners. The said fasteners are secured t e portions .of e s o de strap 9 the. belt t fa en' e po ns t the em n er of t e houlde strap w h b oads iu st d- Whe the be is bei g Wo the a w i ii t e shoulder strap carries causes longitudinal pullor stress which has no effect upon thesnap fats teners in so far as causing separation of' the fasteners is concerned. However, ifthe shoui;

der strap is subjected to a broadside horizo tal pull sueh as would be experienced if an ass" fit grasped pulled the belt, the snap fast er a ia entthafi Po of e sh ul e li p 1 is pu ed l rea be ease so t 't c shoulder strap will come loose and break use effect of the grip of the assailant. H Another object of the invention is to'provide a Sam Browne belt as above which "is simplin construction and economical to manufacture.

A feature of the invention is the provision of an organization whereby the separable fasten er at the front of the belt is concealed'from'view and yet is readily accessible and operative. v

Qther features and advantages will hereinafter appear In the accompanying drawings: Figure l is a perspective view of a Sam Browne beltjmade in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 is a broadside, front elevation of the front end portion of the shoulder strap, Fig.3,is. an edge elevation of the front end portionof the shoulder strap of the belt, Fig. 4 is a plan view of the shoulder strap laid ou in ul l g h, a d Fig. is a detail showing an alternative type of fastening between the shoulder strap and waist band. Referring to Fig. l, the Sam Browne belt of this invention comprises a waist band [8 which may be of the usual construction having antacijustable-buckle-type fastener H at the front to enable the band to be adjusted to the size of a wearer.

At he ront a d ea o the a s band 0 the usual connector fittings [2 are provided, by means of which a shoulder'strap I3 is seeured to the waist band.

According to the present invention separable fastener means are provided for the shoulder tra 3 he g a on. be ng such. at he fastener means are normally inseparable in response to longitudinal pulls or strains of the shoulder straps as occurring during the normal use of the belt, but are readily separable in re spouse to the shoulder strapbeing subjected to a broadside pull such as would be occasioned by an assa an gra p ng an pull ng t e st ap horizontal direction away from the wearers body.

Preferably the separable fasteners are located adjacent the front and rear end portions of the shoulder strap l3. Accordingly, referring to Fig. 2, the front end portion 14 of the shoulder strap comprises separate elements I and [6, the latter being secured by a folded web I! to the connector fitting I2 on the waist band).

The elements and I6 of the shoulder strap are secured together with broadsides juxtaposed by a separable fastener l8 which is preferably, 1i

. within the scope of this invention and portions a snap fastener of the type known commercially as a Carr fastener. The element l6 of the shoulder strap may carry the female part IQ of the fastener, and the element [5 may carry the male part 20.

For purposes of adjusting the length of the shoulder strap l3, the element l5 thereof is secured to an adjustment buckle 2| which receives the main portion 22 of the strap, the tongue 23 of the latter extending from the buckle 2| and being located to overlie the snap fastener l8 and conceal the same. Preferably the length of the tongue 23 is sufficient so that the extreme tip 230. thereof may be interposed between the element I6 of the shoulder strap and the folded web I! as shown in Fig. 2.

The back end portion of the shoulder strap l3 includes a separate element 24 which is secured to the connector fitting 12. The element 24 is fastened broadside to the main portion 22 of the shoulder strap by a second separable fastener [8 of the type such as the Carr fastener.

The fasteners l8 at the end portions of the shoulder strap it are so organized that they normally do not separate in response to longitudinal pulls, on the shoulder strap. However, if

a horizontal broadside pull generally away from 5;

the wearers body should be applied to the shoulder strap l3 above and generally in the vicinity of one of the separable fasteners 18, as would occur for instance in conflict with an assailant,

the fastener will quickly and easily separate,

thereby loosening the shoulder strap on the wearer and breaking the grip of the assailant upon the wearer.

Since the fasteners l8 are so arranged as to go together or separate in a horizontal direction only, when the belt is in normal position on the wearer, they will be referred to herein .as horizontally acting fasteners, which term will be understood as designating the described condition.

It will be understood that the safety Sam Browne belt as provided by this invention is extremely simple in construction and economical to manufacture, and is fool proof in operation, since it is entirely automatic and does not require any action on the part of a wearer. The separable, horizontally acting fasteners l8 are so organized as to withstand considerable longitudinal pulling of the shoulder strap [3, greatly in excess of that experienced during normal use of the belt, without likelihood of separating.

However, the fasteners readily separate in response to substantially moderate broadside pulls in the direction to which the shoulder straps would normally be subjected during an encounter, and therefore a wearer is adequately protected against being put at a disadvantage. I

Referring to Fig. 5, an alternative type of fastening is illustrated, for connecting the shoulder strap l3 to the waist band In.

comprises a loop 25 secured to the band ID, the

This fastening ...;Variations and modifications may be made of the improvements may be used without others.

l. A Sam Browne belt comprising a waist band; and a shoulder strap connected to said waist band, said shoulder strap consisting of at, least three separate portions, two of said portions constituting short terminal elements firmly connectedto said waist band at spaced points and each having an outside surface disposed away from the wear ers body, the remainder of said shoulder strap constituting the main portion thereof having each of its ends overlapping the outside surface of one of said terminal elements and being connected to the corresponding element in face to face relation by a horizontally acting snap fastener hav- 1 ing two parts, one of which has its fastening fastening means accessible from the inner surface of the corresponding overlapping end, whereby the shoulder strap is normally inseparable in response to longitudinal pulls thereon, but is readily separable at either of said snap fasteners by a pull on the main portion of said strap adjacent either of its ends and in a direction away from the wearers body.

2. A Sam Browne belt comprising a waist band; and a shoulder strap connected to said waist band, said shoulder strap consisting of at least two separate portions, one of said portions constituting a short terminal element firmly connected to said waist band and having an outside surface disposed away from the wearers body, the remainder of said shoulder strap constituting the main portion thereof beingconnected at one end to said waist band at a point spaced from the waist band connection of said terminal element, and having its other end overlapping the outside surface of said terminal element and being connected to said element in face-to-face rela: tion by a horizontally acting snap fastener having two parts, one of which has its fastening means accessible from the outside surface of the terminal element and the other of which has its fastening means accessible from the inner surface of said overlapping end, whereby the shoulder strap is normally inseparable in response to longitudinal pulls thereon, but is readily separable at said snap fastener by a pull on the main portion of the shoulder strap adjacent said other end and in a direction away from the wearers body.

3. A Sam Browne belt comprising a waist band assembly; and a shoulder strap connected to said assembly,-said waist band having an outside surface disposed away from the wearers body, said shoulder strap being connected at its ends to spaced points on said waist band assembly and, at least one of said ends overlapping the outside surface of said assembly and being releasably connected thereto in face-to-face relation by a horizontally acting snap fastener having two parts, one of which has its fastening means accessible from the outside surface of said assembly, and the other of which has its fastening means accessible from the inner surface of said overlapping end, whereby the shoulder strap is normally proof against release from the assembly in response to longitudinal pulls along the shoulder strap, but is readily releasable therefrom at said snap fastener by a pull on the shoulder strap adjacent said one end and in a direction away from the wearers body.

4. A Sam Browne belt comprising a waist band; and a sectional shoulder strap secured at its ends to separated points on the waist band and comprising a plurality of sections secured together intermediate the ends thereof, one of said lastnamed securing means consisting of a horizontally-acting snap fastener normally inseparable in response to longitudinal pulls on the strap, and which is readily separable in response to a broadside pull on the strap in a direction horizontally away from the wearers body.

5. A Sam Browne belt comprising a waist band; a shoulder strap comprising at least three sections, said strap having the ends thereof secured to said waist band, one pair of said sections being connected by a buckle on the first section cooperating with a tongue portion on the other section, and a horizontally-acting snap fastener connecting the first section with a third section, the said horizontally-acting fastener being normally inseparable in response to longitudinal pulls on the strap, and being readily separable in response to a broadside pull on the strap in a direction horizontally away from the wearers body, the said tongue portion of the strap overlying and concealing the said horizontally-acting fastener when the belt is being worn.

HELEN C. COOKMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 770,761 'Lemly Sept. 27, 1904 1,639,383 Moretti et al Aug. 16, 1927 1,796,775 Warren Mar. 17, 1931 2,423,002 Bray June 24, 1947 

